The Tournament of Life

Part 8

      The creatures had incredible speed; their jaws unhinged and opened wide, a sight that scared me more than you know.
 
  One had bit at my heels, and I tripped. I shut my eyes tight waiting to collapse on the ground, but I felt a forceful pull on my arm, causing a sharp cry to come from my lips.

"Aspen, come on!" Max exclaimed, his legs running and both of his arms dragging me with him.

I got a grip of myself and once I did the primal instinct of survival kicked in and I ran faster than ever.

A scream ripped through the cold air and rung in my ears, almost making me come to a complete, terrifying stop.

A cannon boomed through the quiet air.

What if it was Max?

I ran in a zigzag pattern, sneaking a look behind me and realizing that my brother was there, following my every move.

My eyes caught sight of a trap hidden in the icy bark of a frozen oak tree, and my brain came up with a brilliant but risky idea.

I grabbed my axe, swung it in front of me and disarmed the trap, making fire jet out like a volcano.

I grabbed Maxwell's arm and I slid on one knee, ducking from the smoke and making Max slip on the ice and follow suit behind me, just on his back.

The fire took out the creatures, and we laid there on our backs trying to catch our breaths.

"Don't move."

A deep voice commands, and in a split second a cold knife is against my neck.

"Take anything, just not her. Please." Maxwell was begging for this tribute to save my life, and the tall frame behind me stood still, tensed and not sure how to respond to my little brother.

"I will kill her if you don't come with me."

That sentence.

I scanned my eyes around me, looking for my axe or a possible weapon to kill this boy. 

I slowly but surely ran my hand over the snowy ground looking for something, anything, to stab him with.

"She's all I have. If you want me, I'll go with you."

My eyes snapped up to look at Max's face, shocked with the words he was speaking.

"Maxwell-" The knife pressed harder into my neck, causing me to whimper at the sudden warmness dripping down.

"Come, now, or she will die. You have ten seconds." He said, Max jumping to his feet to meet this tributes commands.

I didn't dare say another word or close my eyes, my nerves too shot to do anything.

"I'll see you soon, Aspen." The tribute spoke, venom and maliciousness rolling off of his tongue.

I clenched my fists, grit my teeth and focused on the now blackened crisps of the muttations.

In a flash, they disappeared. Both of them. I couldn't understand how.

Gamemakers.

Once I knew the dangerous tribute wasn't still around, I stood on my feet and glanced around, eager to find my axe and the small backpack Maxwell had hidden.

I saw him do it when he was talking to the tribute.

I touched my neck, not even flinching from the adrenaline, and tore a piece of my sleeve from the first layer of my clothing.

I tried it around my wound like a tourniquet, and threw the backpack over my shoulder.

I gave a sigh of defeat once I had realized I was all alone, and that Maxwell had been taken.

I saw red.

My knife was jammed into the wood as an angered response ruptured from me, and my muscles tensed with the feeling of anxiousness.

"I'll get you back, don't worry. Prices will be paid with blood." I said to myself.

My boots dug into the wet snow and on I went, following the footprints.

I didn't see the need to take him unless he is part of a bigger team.

The thought hadn't occurred to me until now.

The Careers.

They wanted my head since day one and this is how they do it. Send someone to take her brother and force her on her knees. Then, when she comes to get him, kill her and her brother.

"Good plan. Would've used it myself if I was them." My stomach was empty, and it didn't help that Maxwell had the backpack with the canteen in it.

I broke an icicle off of a neighboring branch, and sucked on it as I walked.

The only way to get fresh, clean water.

No iodine, no nothing. Just this.

I wanted their skin on a clothesline. And I was going to get it.

It was soon becoming nighttime, and the sky quickly became dark. I stopped by a hollowed out tree, and on the inside it looked pretty dry, so I set up in it.

My legs were bent and I was sitting inside of the tree, head against the small backpack and arms around my knees. I placed rocks to hide the spot from any animals or lurkers who might see me.

I didn't sleep the first couple of hours, just cried until I couldn't speak anymore.

When the picture of the dead tribute showed in the sky, I brushed it away.

Finally, my eyes had shut and I dozed off, hoping the next day would come faster.

When I opened my eyes the first thing I saw was the dripping of water on the tree walls, signaling it was about early sunrise.

I grabbed my stuff, my axe, and headed out.

My boots were quickly becoming soggy on the outside, but not on the inside. Cinna was right, these boots did an amazing job.

The ringing of a silver parachute sung through my ears, and the small object came into view.

My fingers opened the small cylinder container, hoping for something I needed right now.

A vial of magenta liquid sat in a velvet red cushion, and a small note was taped to the ceiling of it.

I grabbed the tiny piece of paper, curious as to what it was and began to read what it said.

'Go get him back, Aspen. We know you can.'
   -Johanna Mason, and District 7

I smiled widely, and shoved the small vial into my breast pocket. I patted it, threw the parachute container into the hollowed out tree, and put the little note in the pocket of my backpack.

"My district and sponsor has my back, I'm not worried." I softly kissed my hand and blew it into the sky as a thanks, showing them I owed them.

My feet carried me eagerly each and every step.

I was ready.